


The Learned Sock

by woodpusher



Category: Ladyhawke (1985)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 17:24:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19339120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woodpusher/pseuds/woodpusher
Summary: This is not really fan fiction.  I haven't written any fiction or read very much in a very long time.It's more of an outline - I tried to pinpoint when the story could have happened.  Clues include:Dates and paths of solar eclipses,Isabeau's father was a Count of Anjou, and killed at Antioch in the Crusades.Clues to ignore:The plague was not the Black Death, but rather a lesser plague not in the history books.Aquila is likely not the modern-day l'Aquila, Italy.Someone mentioned that the style of Navarre's sword was not used in the 1200's.  Well, his family had this one-of-a-kind sword made especially for them.





	The Learned Sock

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DaisyNinjaGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaisyNinjaGirl/gifts), [ryfkah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryfkah/gifts), [Jacen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jacen/gifts), [Thistlerose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thistlerose/gifts).



"A day without a night, and a night without a day." 

I can see how a total solar eclipse is a night without a day, but where is the day without the night? 

I was fortunate to see the total solar eclipse of 2017. The crickets were fooled a few minutes before totality - dang, was it 3.7 minutes or 97 seconds? I'll have to catch the next one. Können and Hinz (2008) claim that Jupiter and Sirius can be seen at magnitude 0.888, 9 minutes before totality. I didn't notice them - for me it was still fairly bright 9 minutes before totality. They say Canopus and Mercury can be seen at magnitude 0.954, 3.7 minutes before totality. I would say that's more like it. They go on to say that Saturn and several more stars appear at magnitude 0.98, 97 seconds before totality.

The wispy corona of the sun around the moon at totality - is a majestic sight indeed.

I was thinking that an annular eclipse (I haven't seen one yet), or a high magnitude partial might be "a day within a night, and a night within a day." Also, would Navarre turn back into a wolf if the bishop doesn't see him and Isabeau together before totality? 

Anyway, Isabeau's father was Count of Anjou, and killed in the Crusades at Antioch. Antioch was contested by the Crusaders from 1097 to 1268. Total eclipses at Aquila, Italy occurred on January 1, 1386 - was too late and December 22, 968 - was too early. 

The names - Philippe Gaston, Pitou, Marquet - are French, so Aquila is likely a ghost town in France, not the modern-day Aquila in Italy. I am focusing on the following eclipses:

Feb 28 1207 - annular (magnitude 0.953 in the French Alps and Pyrenees), only 0.81 from Aquila, Italy.

Jun 3 1239 - 0.991 at Aquila, total to the north of Aquila, including the French Alps  
and the Pyrenees. There can be snow in the high Alps in early June.

Oct 6 1241 - total in the Eastern Alps, 0.972 at Aquila, partial in the French Alps). 

The Raptor by ryfkah places the eclipse in the 1400's. There is no suitable eclipse.  
The closest ones:  
Jun 7, 1415 - this one is total or near total, but it's at roughly 6 a.m.  
Feb 12, 1431 - possibly too late in the afternoon - partial around 2:30 p.m. in the French Alps, near total around 2:45 in Italy.  
Jun 17, 1433 - around 3:45 p.m. in Italy.

Skies Are Black And Blue by Jacen - March 14 1671 = there is no suitable eclipse at all.

As Sure As There is Night and There is Day by Thistlerose  
some time after 1143  
There was a suitable eclipse on Jan 26 1153 - annular, just after noon.

The countship of Anjou was nominally vacant from 1203-1219, and 1232-1246.

The eclipse of 1207 would imply that Isabeau's father was killed in a skirmish at Antioch in the 1203-1205 range. 

Eclipses of 1239 or 1241 would imply that Isabeau's father was killed in a skirmish at Antioch in the 1232-1239 range. It appears that Louis VIII named his son John as Count of Anjou at birth in 1219, then the office was vacant from John's death in 1232 until Charles was appointed Count of Anjou in 1246 (I assume by his brother Louis IX), but not until he was 20.

I do not have a good reason why Louis IX would have named someone to the office secretly, and why he would appoint someone other than his brother.

The 1203-1205 range looks more promising. 

Here's what might have happened:

Arthur was Count of Anjou from 1199-1203. Some time after he was arrested by King John, and knowing his death was imminent, appointed Isabeau's father as Count of Anjou. Possibly this was his uncle William who had claim to the title in the first place. A few loyalists such as Imperius recognized him as the rightful Count of Anjou.

Philip II of France, and King John for that matter, were wresting Anjou away from Isabeau's father, and so it was a title in name only. Isabeau's father went off to fight in the Crusades and was soon killed in a skirmish near Antioch, some time in 1203-1204. Isabeau moved to Aquila to live with her cousin.

A few years earlier (in 1200), the Kingdom of Navarre had lost much of its territory to Alphonse VIII of Castile. Etienne gained employ as the Captain of the Guards in Aquila.

Another possibility is that Arthur escaped from Rouen prison, sired Isabeau, was killed at Antioch, and the eclipse was the one in 1239 or 1241. 

One point that some of these fanfics have missed is that Imperius committed a mortal sin in telling the Bishop about Isabeau and Navarre. So the two of them did sin, and Imperius violated the confessional. Was it premarital sex? Possibly, or possibly isabeau worked for the church, and she and Navarre dated on company time. 

Obviously if she worked for the church, it would have been more dangerous for her 'to return the Bishop's letters if she actually needed the job, or protection from the wicked King John. 

Now why the Learned Sock? It's something Etienne wore....very heavy socks. It put the idea of turning Etienne into a wolf into the Bishop's mind.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Visibility of stars, halos, and rainbows during solar eclipses  
> Gunther P. Können and Claudia Hinz  
> Applied Optics, Vol 47 No. 34 (2008). pp. H14-H24.
> 
> 2\. Arthur is mentioned in:  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counts_and_dukes_of_Anjou
> 
> 3\. William is mentioned in:  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_of_Huntingdon,_Duchess_of_Brittany  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance,_Duchess_of_Brittany
> 
> 4\. The Raptor: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5463062
> 
> 5.  
> Skies Are Black And Blue  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/1975848/chapters/4276488
> 
> 6.  
> As Sure As There is Night and There is Day  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094910
> 
> 7\. John Milton, L'Allegro  
> https://www.bartleby.com/4/201.html  
> I was unfamiliar with the allusion until DNG pointed it out to me.


End file.
